Tremolo arm stabilizers of the type with which this invention is concerned are known and are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,493 and German Patent No. 4216506. In a tremolo device, the strings of the associated guitar are attached, at their bottom ends, to an anchor plate or other anchor member pivotally moveable relative to the guitar body about a pivot axis extending transversely of the strings. The tension of the strings tends to rotate the anchor member in one direction about the pivot axis and this tendency is counterbalanced by a spring acting between the anchor member and the guitar body urging the anchor member in the opposite direction about the pivot axis. An actuating arm is connected to the anchor member and is operable by the guitar player to allow the player to manually move the anchor member about the pivot axis to manually change the tension of the strings and to thereby change their pitches, allowing the player to achieve "tremolo" and other sound effects from the guitar. Usually the actuating arm is pivotally supported on the anchor member so as to be moveable between an active position at which it is located close to the strumming hand of the player and an inactive position at which it is remote from likely interference with the player's hand.
A tremolo stabilizer of the type with which the invention is concerned is used with a guitar to fixedly hold the actuating arm of a tremolo device when the arm is in its inactive position and, by such holding of the actuating arm, to prevent movement of the anchor member of the tremolo device about its pivot axis. That is, the stabilizer locks the actuating arm in a fixed position relative to the guitar body so that the strings are held in a stable condition.
Tremolo devices can be separated into two different types. One type is made up of those devices wherein the strings of the guitar stay in tune relative to one another when the actuating arm of the device is operated through wide excursions, and the other type of device includes those wherein the strings do not stay in tune relative to one another as the actuating arm is so operated. For the strings to stay in tune relative to one another means that if a chord is played, operating the actuating arm through a large excursion will change the pitch of all of the strings in such a way that the notes produced remain in harmony with one another.
For the type of tremolo device which stays in tune upon operation of the actuating arm, the stabilizing device of this invention can be used to adjust the pitches of the strings simultaneously to play on keys above or below the standard pitch, the standard pitch being the pitches to which the strings are tuned when the actuating arm is unrestrained and unoperated. For example, an "A" chord could be transposed down to "G" or up to "B" by merely changing the heighth adjustment of the actuating arm through the use of the stabilizer device of this invention.
The more common tremolo device is of the type wherein the strings acceptably stay in tune relative to one another over only a small range of changes in the position of the anchoring member, and the stabilizer of this invention is useful in holding the anchor member in a fixed position when the tremolo device is not in use to prevent changes in string tuning such as might occur when a string breaks or when the strings otherwise change in tension during a performance.
The stabilizer of the invention includes a holding part engageable with the actuating arm of the associated tremolo device which holding part is adjustable in heighth and angle to suit many different guitars and tremolo devices. Even instruments of the same model can require different adjustments of the holding member as various different strings which might be used with the guitars will place the actuation arm at different heights and angles to the top of the instrument at the standard string tuning.
Once a guitar has been adjusted to standard tuning and the stabilizer device adjusted to hold the actuating arm at the position corresponding this standard tuning it is desirable to maintain this setting of the stabilizer.
Known stabilizers have the disadvantage that they project a considerable distance above the top surface of the guitar body and therefore very often make it impossible for the guitar to be fitted into a standard carrying case. In some instances the stabilizers can be adjusted to reduce their heighth to permit the guitar to fit into a case, but this changes the desired setting of the actuating arm and requires the setting to be reestablished when the guitar is again taken from its case.
The general object of this invention is therefore to provide a tremolo arm stabilizer which avoids the above-mentioned problem.
In keeping with this object, a more detailed object is to provide a tremolo arm stabilizer wherein the main portion of the stabilizer can be easily removed from the guitar body to allow the guitar to be received in its customary case and can be easily reattached to the guitar body when the guitar is again taken from its case, with the stabilizer when its main portion is reattached to the guitar maintaining the same tremolo actuating arm setting as it had at the time of its removal from the guitar.